


the world goes on around you, whether you like it or not

by radiowrittenheart



Category: Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero
Genre: Bittersweet, F/M, Family Feels, Fluff, Heart-to-Heart, Protective Parents, baby Penn is a little shit, cute shit, he's an adorable terror, overall really cute and kind of shippy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-09
Updated: 2015-07-09
Packaged: 2018-04-08 09:55:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4300320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radiowrittenheart/pseuds/radiowrittenheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“We could keep it all a secret from him,” Vonnie whispered, as she let out a sigh while placing a kiss on her son’s forehead. “You know, all of the monsters and multiverses and whatnot. It would keep him safe. He wouldn’t be worried.” She somehow managed a soft laugh when little Penn snatched her glasses off of her face. “He could be normal.”</p><p>Brock looked at his wife, trying to bit back a frown, but finding the action impossible. </p><p>“Yvonne, hon, he’d find out sooner or later,” he muttered.</p><p>Their two year old son laughed, completely oblivious to what was going on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the world goes on around you, whether you like it or not

**Author's Note:**

> HOLY SHIT TONI WROTE A PZPTH FIC THAT'S NOT PENASHI - but, yeah, guess who's still not over "The Ripple Effect"? 
> 
> *points to me* This gal. 
> 
> I kind of got hung up on that moment when Vonnie was getting all nostalgic over her precious little son, and I've been meaning to write a fic for this ship anyway, so ... yeah. Shipping is basically the only thing I know how to write. What can I say - I'm a sucker for romance, along with family-orientated stuff. Which means I couldn't resist combining it.
> 
> Here goes nothing!

There was a reason they called it the Terrible Twos, Vonnie realized. One minute, she was running around the house, going up and down the stairs after that little menace, the next, she was trying to physically restrain her son from causing more chaos, but every attempt was futile. Once there was a second of serenity, it was broken the moment it began.

And to be honest, Brock didn’t know what he expected to see when he came home from yet another solo mission-

“Get this little menace out of my sight,” Vonnie groaned, yanking their son up off of the ground and shoving the toddler into her husband’s arms. “He’s ruining my house.”

Brock playfully rolled his eyes. “Nice to see you too, honey,” he teased, while somehow managing to keep his son from squirming in his arms. “Hey, pal.” He lifted his son into the air, slightly spinning him around. “Did you drive your mom crazy again?”

Vonnie literally grimaced at the sound of her son’s laughter. “He’s doing it all on purpose,” she muttered.

“Oh, come on,” Brock retorted. He looked at his little boy, with a raised eyebrow. “Penn, buddy, you’re not being mean to your mom, are you?”

The two year old shook his head, and occupied himself with yanking on his father’s tie. “Uh-uh,” he declared.

Brock smiled, placing his son down on the floor, letting the toddler go back to wrecking more havoc on the Zero household - which obviously didn’t sit well with Vonnie. She yanked at her hair in frustration, and groaned, simply watching in horror as their son went back to destroying whatever he could get his hands on.

“Work was fine, by the way,” Brock said.

“Sorry,” Vonnie sighed, looking back to him and standing up on her tip-toes to place a kiss on his cheek. “Good to see you’re not dead.”

Brock shrugged. “Eh, Superhero World wasn’t that hard,” he admitted. “Phyllis must have gotten lazy this time around.”

There was a crash in the kitchen, but no crying, so Vonnie decided to just brush this one little thing off-

-that is, until she saw little Penn run out, letting the paper towels trail behind him, thus covering the whole living room.

Vonnie swore under her breath, and dashed over, fetching her son in one swift move. Apparently, she had mastered how to stop him over these past few months since he had been walking and running. She took the roll of paper towels out of the little boy’s hands, and shook her head.

“And the amazing Yvonne Zero defeats the villainous little terror she has created,” Brock teased.

“It’s only a temporary win,” Vonnie retorted, with a small smile.

“Zero! Hero!” little Penn chanted, waving his hands.

Apparently, those were his favorite words he had learned ever since learning how to talk. (Even if Brock and Vonnie were still mad about their son still not being able to properly pronounce Mama or Daddy. Their little boy was either extremely stubborn or taking his own sweet time.)

“Not yet,” Vonnie said, ruffling her son’s hair.

“But it’s only a matter of time,” Brock chuckled.

He paused when he noticed his wife go still, just standing there and holding their troublesome son in the middle of the trashed living room. Vonnie gave a pathetic shrug as she sat down on the couch, letting Penn crawl into her lap and squish a pillow in his small hands.

Of course, this sudden change in emotions and softness of his wife’s typically brash attitude intrigued Brock.

He took a few slow steps over, and plopped down on the couch next to his small family.

“Yvonne?”

“Yes?” Vonnie practically challenged, her eyes flickering a little.

Brock steepled his fingers. “What is it?” he said.

“Nothing,” she mumbled, keeping their little boy away from the coffee table, where he could almost knock over the lamp they had stolen from a steampunk world.

Vonnie ignored her husband’s stern look, but spoke up, “I’ve been thinking.”

Of course, Brock didn’t say a word, but his expression was enough beckoning.

“It’s been two years, Brock,” Vonnie sighed. She glanced to him, and adjusted his tie. “Don’t you realize what this means?”

“Not really,” he muttered, giving a smitten smile when his eyes met his wife’s.

Vonnie shrugged. “Our son’s growing up already,” she muttered. “Talking, walking-” She cleared her throat. “Figuring things out.” She met her husband’s gaze, and raised an eyebrow.

Brock hesitated, lifting a finger as if to make a point, but then lowering it. “I’m lost,” he said.

“You idiot,” Vonnie declared.

“What did I-” Brock’s eyes went wide when he noticed his son pointing at him, still chanting _“Zero”_ and _“Hero”_ over and over. “-oh.”

The two of them shared a glance; soft and very conflicted. Emotions of each different sort ran through both of them - Vonnie seeming more torn up than Brock was. He had a little bit more of a light than she did, yet one thing was for sure, they never kept their gaze away from their little boy.

“We could keep it all a secret from him,” Vonnie whispered, as she let out a sigh while placing a kiss on her son’s forehead. “You know, all of the monsters and multiverses and whatnot. It would keep him safe. He wouldn’t be worried.” She somehow managed a soft laugh when little Penn snatched her glasses off of her face. “He could be normal.”

Brock looked at his wife, trying to bit back a frown, but finding the action impossible.

“Yvonne, hon, he’d find out sooner or later,” he muttered.

Their two year old son laughed, completely oblivious to what was going on.

Vonnie scowled. “How do you know?” she retorted, while prying her glasses out of the toddler’s hands and sliding them back on. “We’ve kept it hidden well enough with everyone else we know. How is this any different?”

As he scratched the stubble on his chin, Brock shrugged. “Keeping a secret from the whole world, that’s one thing,” he explained. “Our own kid, though? What if, one day, he wants to get into the family business?”

“How could he want to get into it if he never knew about it?” Vonnie grumbled, leaning back into the couch.

“You think he wouldn’t figure it out?” Brock retorted, gently taking the baby boy out of his wife’s arms and holding him up. “Look at him. He’s exactly like you. He wouldn’t even need to think about it, he’d just know what we do for a living. I can picture it, ten years from now-” He lightly grabbed a bit of Penn’s hair in his hand, pretending his son was a puppet. “-Hey, Mom, Dad, can I go on a mission with you?”

Vonnie bit back her laughter, and cleared her throat. She had no valid argument this time; she simply watched as her husband placed their son back on the carpet, allowing the little boy to return back to running around the house.

“Like I said,” Brock mused, with a wide grin as little Penn began smacking one of his sillier looking stuffed animals with a pillow. “He’s your kid.”

“I … I just don’t want him to feel like he has to do it,” Vonnie admitted, never taking her eyes off of their son. “I don’t think we should start telling him while he’s still so young. He’d get into it, probably for a little while, but then fade out. That’s his choice, sure, but-” She began biting her nails nervously. “-I don’t want him to get hurt.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Vonnie noticed a sight that infuriated her, and she growled.

“Well, I’m glad that you can find this funny,” she snapped, turning away from her husband.

However, despite her sudden change in attitude, Brock continued to chuckle, and wrapped his arms around her, ignoring the protests. “You’re so cute sometimes,” he said softly. “Getting all worried. Where’s my hero girl, hmm?”

Vonnie frowned and gave no reply, but eventually gave into the embrace. Brock placed a kiss on the top of her head, and the both of them stared at how terrifyingly adorable their son was - screaming and dashing around the house, now with a blanket draped over his shoulders…

“He’s gonna be a hero too,” Brock murmured. “You don’t want to realize that, do you?”

“No, I already knew that,” Vonnie sighed. “I - I-” She rolled her eyes, deciding not to reply.

Nope. She wasn’t going to let him win this stupid argument. She had an opinion and dammit, she was going to stick to it.

Brock nudged his wife, and he raised an eyebrow. “Vonnie?” he said softly.

She barely managed a grumble.

“ _Yvonne_ ,” he declared.

“ _Brock_ ,” she said mockingly.

He sighed. “You’re gonna be like this, aren’t you?” he asked.

She nodded wordlessly, laying her head against his chest and staring up at him with a smirk they both knew would make him mad and cause him to melt seemingly at the same time.

He shook his head, placing a kiss on her nose. “What am I gonna do with you?”

Vonnie shrugged. “I ask myself the same question everyday,” she teased.

A halfhearted chuckle escaped Brock and he leaned in steal a kiss from his wife-

-that is, until she reached out and placed a finger on his lips.

“It’s quiet,” she mumbled. “It’s never quiet.” Her eyes darted around the living room and her hazel eyes went wide, with her hair beginning to frizz wildly- “Where’s Penn?” She wriggled out of her husband’s embrace and got up from the couch, starting to dash around the house, calling for their son.

Brock sat up, and casually took a few steps around, glancing here and there, before noticing something near the doorway…

He peeked into the hallway, laughing when he saw a huge pile of stuffed animals, action figures and more, with his son sitting in front of them holding a water pistol.

However, the toy gun wasn’t aimed and the little boy was half-asleep, about to fall onto the floor and take a nap.

“C’mere, buddy,” Brock said softly, lifting Penn up off of the floor. “What - are the stuffed animals evil?”

“Uh-huh,” the little boy mumbled tiredly.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have watched Toy Story, huh?” Brock laughed. He rolled his eyes when he heard his wife starting to panic, and he stuck his head into the room. “He’s right here, Yvonne. Don’t call in a search party.”

“Be quiet, you,” Vonnie muttered, practically sprinting over and taking their son out of his arms. “What did you do this time, you little troublemaker?”

Brock couldn’t suppress his laugh as he nodded to the pile of toys. “Guess he thought the toys were villains,” he teased.

It was hard to deny how cute the idea of it all was, Vonnie grinned as she rubbed circles on Penn’s back, letting the little boy fall asleep in her arms.

She looked at her husband, who was trying to convince her-

-she could just see it, ugh, that idiot-

“Someday,” she said. “Maybe someday we’ll tell him.”

**Author's Note:**

> So after all of that ANGST riding through the fandom, you lot deserved something cute. Hope I delivered well enough.


End file.
